UAE-South Korea Cultural Cooperation

Introduction 

The year 2020 marked a new chapter in cultural relations between the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and South Korea. Launched in celebration of the 40^th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries, the UAE-Korea Cultural Dialogue generated a host of events and initiatives across the fields of heritage, visual and performing arts, design, education, technology, and literature, demonstrating both countries’ commitment to fostering dynamic cultural ties. In 2016, the Korean Cultural Center in the UAE (KCCUAE)

opened its doors in Abu Dhabi, as the first of its kind in the Gulf region, and the only one to date. Launched by the South Korean government with the aim of “establishing and promoting cultural exchange between Korea and the UAE,” the KCCUAE has organized numerous ambitious cultural projects since its opening.¹ Based on original research conducted on Korean performing and visual arts events that took place in the UAE from 2016 to the present day, this essay aims to explore further avenues for cultural exchange between the two countries, and to thoroughly review existing scholarly research on Emirati and Arab interest in Korean culture.

Hallyu in the UAE: A Brief Overview 

Hallyu, or the Korean Wave, refers to the “increase in international interest in South Korea and its popular culture.”² Since the 1990s, Korean content, including pop music (K-pop) and television shows (K-dramas), has taken the world by storm as part of Hallyu, and the UAE is no exception. As demonstrated by the purchase of over 16 different Korean shows in Dubai in 2007, as well as the launch of the annual Korea Festival in 2013 and the Korean Film Festival in 2016, the UAE public’s interest in Korean culture has increased rapidly since the 2000s.³ Earlier this year, Expo 2020 Dubai welcomed an audience of 6,000 attendees for a concert that featured Korean artists such as Stray Kids, PSY, Sunmi, (G)I-dle, Golden Child, and Forestella.⁴ Additionally, between September 2021 and June 2022, Korean dramas dominated online media consumption in the country, with 20 K-dramas entering Netflix UAE’s Top 10 chart due to their popularity.⁵ 

Past studies have attempted to investigate the potential reasons behind the appeal of Korean culture to Arab audiences. A cross-cultural analysis conducted in 2017 by Suwan Kim, Associate Professor in the Department of Arabic Interpretation and Translation at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (HUFS) in Seoul, showed that Arab audiences have been fascinated with Korean stories, “which have a mellow, humanistic atmosphere as compared to American dramas.”⁶ Additionally, with situations that highlight mutual worldviews, such as an emphasis on family relationships, Korean dramas have raised awareness of shared values among Arab audiences.⁷

Furthermore, Urwa Tariq’s study, published in 2021, explored the reasons behind the rising popularity of Korean popular culture among Emirati females.⁸ The study echoed Kim’s findings, as a focus group interview of Emirati females revealed that cultural commonalities, like the focus on family, made Korean dramas more appealing to Emirati audiences. Korean dramas were also seen as more balanced “in terms of language and content.”⁹

As the literature on Emirati viewership of Korean dramas is scarce, interviews with young Emiratis who are interested in Korean culture were conducted for this essay. “I find Korean dramas to be more relatable to our cultural context,” points one interviewee, on the appeal of Korean dramas.¹⁰ “I see myself and my culture in [Korean culture]. We share similar customs, heritage, and values.”¹¹ The tradition of hospitality that is evident in K-dramas was likewise cited as a significant cultural similarity between the UAE and Korea.¹²

Interest in Korean media has led Arab audiences to explore other aspects of Korean culture, as well. Eunji Kim, researcher at HUFS’s Institute of Middle East Studies, analyzed the 2016 and the 2019 Global Hallyu Status reports to show the change in Korean cultural events held in Arab countries.¹³ The topics of the events have diversified over the years to include poetry readings, ballet, fusion music, and lectures on Korean cuisine, traditional medicine, and beauty.¹⁴ Similarly, a study conducted with members of the Korean Cultural Club at Zayed University in Dubai found that “Emirati females [who] are initially drawn to Korean culture by pop music and dramas… then become interested in learning the Korean language.”¹⁵

Performing Arts 

The KCCUAE has organized and hosted 29 performances since its opening in 2016, which ranged from traditional music and dance performances to K-pop and fusion music concerts.¹⁶ The events were held both independently by the KCCUAE, and in collaboration with cultural institutions across the country. One frequent collaborator has been The Arts Center at New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD), which, together with the KCCUAE, has brought Korean performing arts groups to Abu Dhabi, including Tacit Group, Bereishit Dance Company, and ADG7. Bill Bragin, Artistic Director of The Arts Center, has shared insights into the successful reach of those events within the emirate’s wider population: “Our first Korean artist, Tacit Group, was part of our inaugural season and helped us establish The Arts Center as a place for innovation as well as performance. I know that it made a lasting impact on student artists within the community, as we hosted two full-capacity shows, with over 300 attendees.”¹⁷ Even during the pandemic, Korean performing arts events were met with unabated enthusiasm despite being held online. For instance, the online concert by ADG7, organized with support from Korea Foundation for International Cultural Exchange (KOFICE), had an extremely active online response, with 3,500 people viewing the performance on Facebook and an additional 38,000 views on YouTube. Bragin continues, “It was beautifully shot in a striking location in Korea. Our audience was especially moved by their interpretation of a classic Emirati song.”¹⁸

Performing arts can serve as powerful means for cultural exchange, especially between seemingly disparate cultures, as it allows for a collective experience for the audience that may not necessarily be offered by other forms of arts. According to Bragin, “unlike the experience of viewing visual arts, which tends to be more solitary, the viewing of performing arts is more collective. The audience and artists being in the same space and time is one of the most special aspects about performing arts.” He continues, “Informal person-to-person interaction can happen also within the audience. Especially in the case of a diverse audience, people who are not familiar with what is being presented may speak with those who are familiar with it, which allows for community building.”¹⁹

Korean fusion dance and music performances have also been useful tools for cultural practitioners in the UAE, whose interest lies in bringing Emirati intangible cultural heritage together with contemporary music, dance, and theater. “I became very interested in the way Korea is able to keep traditions relevant in contemporary society. I learn so much from observing it,” says Randa Haidar, Director of Culture Events and Festival Platforms at the Department of Culture and Tourism, Abu Dhabi. “Much like Korean cultural heritage, Emirati cultural heritage is also very heavy on the intangible side, with oral histories and poetry. I have become an advocate of looking to the East for best practices of preserving cultural heritage rather than to the West, whose heritage is heavily object-based.”²⁰

Haidar’s remark suggests the potential of joint research residency initiatives in preserving and growing both countries’ intangible heritage by exploring ways to combine Emirati and Korean traditional music with other contemporary genres. To further build on the momentum of cultural exchange enabled by UAE-based Korean performing arts events, cultural ambassadors who understand the business practices of both countries will be important, as differences around business practices can pose difficulties for international programming. Bragin provides an example: “Even just understanding the different time frames people work with makes a difference. The UAE works with a shorter time frame when it comes to organizing events compared to countries like South Korea.”²¹ It would also be beneficial to invest more in designing educational workshops that accompany performing arts events. The Arts Center is a prime example. By inviting artists to engage with the student community through workshops and classroom presentations, they have been able to extend impact beyond the performances. Universities across the country could collaborate with the KCCUAE to bring workshops and discussions with invited artists to their respective campuses. 

Additional Avenues For Cultural Exchange

Compared to performing arts, limited exchange has occurred between both countries in the realm of contemporary visual arts. Considered as significant investments that garner less measurable engagement than popular culture or performing arts events, contemporary art exhibitions may not be seen as an effective medium for immediate cultural exchange. However, contemporary art offers more nuanced cultural insights, as it visually expresses artists’ understandings of present-day societies. “Contemporary art gives more autonomy to visitors to interpret and digest artworks from different angles. In this sense, it allows for a two-way interaction that is not offered by popular culture, which often transmits information in one way,” adds Chan-Woo Nam, Director of the KCCUAE.²² Tonghyun Yu, curator of the exhibition Ogamdo: Five Scenes of Korean Art, also speaks of the usefulness of contemporary art in the context of Arab-South Korea relations: “The Arab region is still unfamiliar to South Korea in terms of language and religion. Thus, it is important to further the exchanges between the two through art, which can transcend these differences.”²³

Of the 18 exhibitions organized by the KCCUAE since 2016, only eight exhibitions showed contemporary artworks.24 Most were small in scale, featuring between one and seven artists at a time.²⁵ Against this backdrop, Ogamdo: Five Scenes of Korean Art stands out. The exhibition brought together 43 works by 14 Korean artists. Its title, translated as “crow’s eye view” in English, was inspired by the eponymous poem by Yi Sang, one of the most famous avant-garde writers of the colonial era (1910– 1945). Ogamdo proposed five different ways to “look at the ‘here’ and ‘now’ of the 21^st century’s ‘Koreanness’ present in Korean contemporary art.”²⁶ The exhibition was divided into five sections: new tradition, city montage, reconstruction of culture, everyday affairs, and landscape through the mind’s eye. It sought to shed light on how traditional Korean life relates to “the present day’s mixed cultures, and our state of minds living in this fast-paced country.”²⁷

Ogamdo opened as a virtual exhibition during exceptional circumstances in March 2020. A post-exhibition survey conducted by the KCCUAE and KOFICE showed that, on a scale of 7, visitors evaluated the exhibition at 6.62, and their overall satisfaction at 6.69.²⁸ Nam adds, “There were interesting answers such as ‘I was able to understand Korean sentiments through various aspects presented in the exhibition, including the uniqueness, beauty, and the spiritual feelings embedded in each work,’ and ‘I asked my Korean teacher about the poem, Ogamdo, because I became more interested in it after viewing the exhibition.’”²⁹

Although these findings are noteworthy, it is unfortunate that Ogamdo took place online, limiting the material engagement that is offered by the in-person viewing of artworks. Additionally, conceived as part of the Travelling Korean Arts initiative, Ogamdo was not curated with the UAE’s context in mind. In order to improve upon this, future exhibitions could focus on showing artistic productions that center on issues of common interest to both countries, such as sustainability, post-colonial narratives, and identity-building in the context of rapid modernization. For such engaging exhibitions to take place and effectively facilitate artistic exchange, several measures are needed from both the UAE and South Korea. Caiya Kang, Director of the Cultural Exchange and Planning team at KOFICE, comments that governmental and institutional support is needed in securing space. “From my experience, finding a space for exhibitions is often much more difficult compared to finding one for a performing arts concert,” notes Kang. “Audiences often find contemporary art less accessible compared to performing arts or popular culture events. I believe that innovative marketing and educational strategies are needed for more meaningful engagement.”³⁰

The contemporary art sector works in tandem with the art market, and the growth in the number of Korean art galleries present at Abu Dhabi Art, the emirate’s annual art fair, must also be considered. Launched in 2015, Abu Dhabi Art brings together local and international galleries at Manarat Al Saadiyat. Since the 2018 edition, the representation of Korean galleries has increased, culminating in a section dedicated to contemporary Korean art in 2020. Titled Material-Real, the section was developed by South Korean independent curator and writer Sung Woo Kim. Given the receptiveness of the UAE’s art market for contemporary Korean art, more art galleries from Seoul should consider exhibiting their work in galleries across the country. It is also an ideal time for UAE-based galleries to increase their representation in Korea’s art fairs and exhibitions, especially as Seoul is emerging as a powerful capital for contemporary Asian art, with Frieze Seoul set to inaugurate in September 2022.

Furthermore, funding for interdisciplinary research from both sides is needed. A noteworthy example is Starters 2.0: Traveling Through Food, which took place as part of the 2020 UAE-Korea Cultural Dialogue. The virtual workshop was launched by the Sharjah-based Fikra Design Studio and the Seoul-based Paju Typography Institute (PaTI), in partnership with the Ministry of Culture and Youth in the UAE, the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism in South Korea, and KOFICE. The educational experiment and cultural exchange project aimed to shed light on the commonalities and differences related to design practices and food cultures in the two countries. Between April 7 and June 14, 2021, six Korean and six Emirati students convened in a series of sessions to introduce national dishes to one another and interpret them through design.³¹ The initiative culminated in a bilingual publication, as well as an exhibition at PaTI in South Korea in June 2021, featuring works created by the participants.³² 

Ayesha Bin Haider, an Emirati graphic designer who participated in Starters 2.0, comments that the initiative offered her deeper insights into both Emirati and Korean cultures, which enriched her design practice in return. “From experiencing the design process to having the chance to meet other people from a different culture and understand their perspectives — every experience from the workshop served as a positive addition to my design practice. Engaging with Korean students and instructors through group sessions and individual calls offered a more intimate and nuanced understanding of Korean culture, as I got to dig deeper into their daily lives as creative practitioners. I found a lot of valuable similarities and differences between us.”³³

Initiatives like Starters 2.0 enrich the creative practices of participants from both countries, as they offer fresh and diverse perspectives through joint critique and discussion sessions. While virtual exchanges could be seen as a limiting factor, they in fact serve as an advantage from a logistical point of view, for they remove the financial and time burdens associated with travels required by in-person events. Educational initiatives that continue for a long period of time, like Starters 2.0, would enable deeper cultural understanding and growth of personal relationships between participating creatives. 

Conclusions

Though not touched upon in this essay due to its scope, greater efforts are needed to increase the visibility and understanding of the Arab region in South Korea. Engagement with Korean culture has become mainstream in the region through K-pop and K-dramas, however, much of Korea’s perception of the Arab world remains shaped by outdated narratives that are predominantly created by Western media. As such, the complexities and nuances of Arab culture are buried under stereotypical notions and mischaracterizations, especially for East Asian audiences who are geographically far removed from the Gulf.

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The statements made and views expressed are solely the responsibility of the author, and do not represent Fiker Institute.